New, Dutch Ocean Fresheeeeee
Renaat van der Taelen.
Summer Fishing on large waters.

This year I planned to start my summer fishing on home water in Bevissen, Belgium.  The swim choice was in the deeper parts of the lake. The spot I really liked was about 25 metres from the bank in a water depth of 4m but rather than fishing this spot straight away I wanted to make sure I was into all the big fish. On the Saturday when I first visited the water it was very warm and being down the deeper part of the lake gave me a very large area to fish in as all the other carp anglers were in the shallows where the water depth averaged around 1 metre and they were catching carp but only the odd one or two and mostly smaller fish. When I arrived at the lake I sat down with a smoke and observed the water for signs of carp. Immediately I noticed two very large carp jumping about 20m out from the overhanging bushes on the opposite side of the lake. It was fantastic site to see these carp behaving natural in their own habitat.

I had already decided that I would fish with my favourite boilies '' green lipped mussel'' 15 mm baits. This weekend I waited for a long period until the carp stopped jumping then I quietly sneaked over to the opposite side of the bank where the overhanging bushes were and started applying my bait on the spot. In total I scattered 2kg GLM along that margin and a concentrate pile exactly where the carp showed themselves. It was now getting late in the afternoon and rather than setting up and fishing there and then I decided to build confidence in the area and with the fish so left shortly after baiting up. The next day I returned for more observation and this time I saw three carp show themselves again along the bush line of the bank. Same tactics again I scattered another 2kg of GLM and went off home. Monday and Tuesday ditto.

On Wednesday, I arrived with all my gear and tackle. My plan was to fish three nights and as it was mid week the lake only had six carp anglers and again they stuck to the shallow spots. I stopped by one of the anglers and enquired to what if any results he had. He complained it was hard and suggested I not bother and return another day. I thanked him for his advice and went off further down the lake to the deep end where my pre-baited spot was. The wind was blowing moderate to my direction and after observing the area in only ten minutes I saw the forth carp break the surface. I sat at the waterside for another twenty minutes watching carp after carp crashing over the baited spot. It was now time to get my bank sticks in the ground and start fishing. I placed the left fishing rod 20m off the far side bank on a hard plate of 4m depth my right fishing rod was further up, about 40m to the right in slightly deeper area of 5m. The bottom profile was a slow drop down to 9m at the deepest point.

The hook baits I pre-soaked in liquid food mussel overnight and placed 2 boilies in a PVA funnel web and attached my hook bait to the bottom by hooking into the pva. The oil based liquid food did not melt the pva in anyway. I was extremely confident the carp would come to this small offering and eat with confidence. It was possible to bait up with a throwing stick at this distance so I did not have to walk all the way round the lake to feed. I like to keep it simple when fishing over a baited spot and let the carp compete for the bait by keeping it to a minimal all the hard work had been done prior to actual fishing. It was now the time to catch all the fish that had fed confidently on this spot.

The rig consisted of green Armaled 4oz led with ESP T size 8 hook and a stiff shrinkage tube and a long Leadcore. I made a further spread of 1kg GLM along and between the two rod spots accurately with the stick.  After 20 minutes the left fishing rod was bent in my hands. Playing the fish in open water snag free is just a time thing and not long later the first carp of the session was in my landing net. The result a long-drawn-out mirror of Dutch 14.2 kg UK31.2lb. As I was weighing this fish my right hand rod was away and after another short battle my second carp was on the unhooking mat this time larger at 16.9 kg UK37.1lb. In just over 40 minutes I had caught two very nice looking carp.


“37.1lb caught on a pre-baited GLM spot“

I had done a great job with this spot and applying the right bait. In the first 24 hours I pulled out 11 carp and only lost one.



“28.6lb Leather“


“29.7lb Common“

In the morning, the photograph work was done and I wanted to get back into the action. After an hour later I was drilling the next carp this time a smaller carp 18lb. So I decided to move this rod 10 metres to the left where the water was starting to shallow up at a depth of 2.5 metres. I fished a single GLM and was hoping for instant run.  After a half hour, I got a run on that left rod and it turned out to be another small carp of 22lb, I was now scratching my head trying to work out why all the smaller carp were on my spot and where the bigger lumps had gone. So with the stick I throw out another 2kg of bait along the bank and sat back waiting for the next sound of my alarms. It was a good 1.5 hour into my catch up sleep when the right rod was off. I jumped up out off my bed chair and hit the right rod. It bent over with a nice curve and quickly took 40m of line off my spool. The fish felt really heavily. I was drilling nice and slowly but couldn’t gain any line on this carp, it was a fight I never had experienced before with frustration I pumped harder and then it all went slack. On retrieval of the rig the hook had completely straightened out and was un-fishable. I quickly changed the rig and recasts out. Extremely upset I crawled back in my sleeping bag and returned to dreamland. In the late afternoon I was into more small carp, four in total ranging from 17lb to 22lb so again I got the stick out and baited up the area with another 2kg GLM by the evening and just after dark my left hand shallower rod was off at this time with out any problems I was back into the larger carp with a nice mirror of 15.2kg UK33.4lb.


“33.4lb Mirror caught over heavy baited area“


The rest of the night remained quiet and no more action came. Nearly all the fish came in the day time hours which proved to be the most productive time. Around noon on the third day another small scale came out and I was now planning to move. I decided to change swims and go a further 80m to the left of my spot closer to the shallow parts of the lake. The wind was blowing really well in that direction and thought with 18 carp from this spot in two nights that it was time to move away from this spot I truly hammered.

The new place looked very much like the old one only the depth was different. The left hand rod was again replaced in shallower water this time a glugged liquid food mussel pva net bag fished with a kilo of free baits was positioned far left and the right rod not far from the area I had just come from. The move was a good one as the left rod was quickly into the action and once the carp was in the net I noticed distinctly as a fish of 15kg but this time down in weight at 12.8kg UK28.lb


“A known carp down in weight“

The right hand rod saw more action with common of 18lb and a mirror of 26.4lb and my final carp came from my left hand rod which was a pleasing surprise of 13.2kg UK29lb.


“Common carp of 29lb“

Out of 3 nights I had caught 24 fish and lost 2 one of which I think was upper forty but we never know. I caught all these carp by observing the water carefully and then applying a short pre-baiting campaign that lasted 4 days. In the new swim I had 6 carp which fell instantly to the baits and I was content with all the results. On my return to the car I spoke with the other carp anglers, one of which caught a 25lb mirror and the other five blanked. With this I happily strolled to the car proud of my results and confident of my return sometime soon.


Greetings Boulie

Renaat van der Taelen.